Dielectric thin-film color optical memory device and fabrication process

• Main Authors: STECKL ANDREW J, CHI ROBERT CHIH-JEN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.08.2006
• Subjects: GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; INFORMATION STORAGE; LAYERED PRODUCTS; LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT ORNON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; STATIC STORES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TRANSPORTING

The DTF optical memory makes use of the property of dielectric thin film interference to create multi-color pixels and serve as a multi-level optical memory device. The fabrication of the device comprises a dielectric thin film deposited on a substrate that is micro-milled utilizing focused ion beam (FIB) technology. Such micro-milling creates pixels of varying depth that when exposed to a broad-band light source create distinct colors caused by the properties of thin film interference and superposition of reflected light from the broad band source, thus creating an effective optical memory device that may be detected using a color CCD camera or a photo-detector array. Accurate creation and detection of discrete colors allows accurate digital encoding and direct storage of color image in a format of sub-micron pixel array. The robustness of the DTF optical memory device allows operation under harsh environmental conditions, including high temperatures and radiation.